RECORRECTION: Rwandair CRJ100 crashes into terminal on chocks off
The news that we reported earlier needs to be corrected as the aircraft type as a Bombardier CRJ100, on lease from Jetlink.
The aircraft is 5Y-JLD and was operating as flight WB205 from Kigali, Rwanda to Entebbe/Kampala, Uganda.
We regret the inconvenience caused to you by the mistaken route and aircraft info.
Full extract from BNO is as follows.
KIGALI, RWANDA (BNO NEWS) –
At least several people were injured after a RwandAir commuter plane slammed
into a wall in Rwanda’s capital on Thursday afternoon, airline officials told
BNO News.
The accident happened around 12.53 p.m. local
time at Kigali International Airport after the aircraft, a 57-seat Bombardier
CRJ100 plane, made an emergency landing at the airport. The aircraft is
officially owned by Kenya-based JetLink Express but is operated by RwandAir.
Local media reports initially claimed the plane
had crashed after take-off, but officials denied those reports. “It didn’t
crash,” JetLink’s commercial manager told BNO News by telephone. Officials with
both JetLink Express and RwandAir had different versions of what exactly took
place.
RwandAir Acting-CEO Jack Ekl told BNO News that
the plane reported a problem shortly after it had taken off from Kigali airport.
After making a safe emergency landing at the airport where it took off, the
aircraft taxied to the parking bay of the airport. “Just as they stopped the
aircraft, the engine suddenly went to one-hundred percent power,” Ekl said.
JetLink’s commercial manager said it had struck the wall of the airport’s VIP
Lounge, but said no one inside the building was injured.
A total of fifteen people were on board the
aircraft, including five crew members. “[All passengers] came out on their own
power,” Ekl said, adding that everyone was taken to a local hospital for
observation. Ekl believed one of the passengers, a woman, had passed away at the
hospital, but said he had not yet received confirmation from officials.
The plane’s co-pilot remained trapped inside the
aircraft about 4.5 hours after the accident, and the captain suffered a broken
leg. Besides the captain and co-pilot, two flight attendants and one aircraft
mechanic were on board. Ekl said the passengers existed of nine adults and one
infant.
Ekl added that investigative teams from Kenya
would respond to investigate the accident, and said that the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from the United States might investigate as
well. A spokesman for the NTSB in Washington, D.C. said it had not yet received
information about the incident and could not say if it would respond to
investigate.
The NTSB often assists to investigate plane
crashes and other serious accidents that occurred in foreign countries.
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